Tag: Perception

A comparative study of Syria & Iraq wars, makes it evident that the cause of instability is not authoritarianism, nor radicalism in either of these states, and the entire ME region.

Rather these are symptoms of a greater menace inciting them – neo-imperialism.

Enough with associative-thinking – ‘this has to be true because of this.’

We don’t need Putin to be boogieman in order to vilify a US president.

Trump & the GOP that created him are war criminals, racists & rabid, hawkish interventionists.

With or without Putin.

Even Egypt’s case of the ‘Arab Spring’ was arguably a direct rejection of neo-imperial vision of a colonial-outpost in the Middle East.

Democracy may be the end-goal even in the Middle East – but democracy is impossible without sovereignty. Democracy has neither been achieved in Iraq or Syria. In one case, an authoritarian was overthrown, the other, preserved. Both cases resulted in utter chaos, unprecedented terrorism and religious radicalization. This implies the specter is foreign intervention, not domestic.

Sovereignty is a precondition for political development. One does not need to be a ‘political scientist’ or expert to understand that simple notion.

The cases of Bahrain, Yemen & Egypt serve as controls for other purported variables that may be influencing the outcome of the so-called ‘Arab Spring’. Bahrain indicates that while Sunni-Shia hatreds are strong – they are not sufficient to incite a full-fledged civil war along sectarian lines. In Egypt, the political climate made it apparent that radicalism was exploiting any attempt at political development, contrary to the claim that reduced authoritarianism might mitigate religious fundamentalism. Finally, the case of Yemen indicates the double-standard exhibited by interventionists in the region – namely the US & Europe, who on one end funnel arms and finances to prop up dictators such as in Yemen; & in others devote the same efforts to toppling them.

Libya too, like Iraq, demonstrates the vulnerability of a nation without a state.

These are all indications that the primary menace to peace, stability and progress in the Middle East is foreign intervention, or neo-imperialism.

Ultimately, a truly democratic movement – the future of the Middle East, depends as much on internal efforts at deinstitutionalizing & wholly dismantling authoritarianism as it does on mitigating foreign support for these very institutions. Only then, can global hegemonies like Russia, America & China be kept at bay regarding any excessive ambitions in the Middle East and beyond (Latin America, Africa, Central & Southeast Asia).

Only through unity of indigenous cultures and nation-states can regions afflicted with imperialism overcome & develop. Dignity, prosperity, culture & innovation are best preserved under these conditions.

First, Israel is already a Jewish state, and second, from the perspective of its Arab citizens, it’s a state that’s already seen as a preferential rather than full democracy. And passage of this gratuitous and provocative new law will only widen the growing and still irreconcilable gap between the two.

But now in the highly charged world of Israel’s political right, it’s made its biggest advances to date in the effort to enshrine Israel’s Jewish identity, as one of its Basic Laws that provide the foundation for the country’s legal and political system in the absence of a formal constitution, which Israel does not have. The bill’s defenders (among them Israeli Prime Minister Bibi Netanyahu) maintain that it states the obvious, is long overdue, and is also essential to making clear to the Arab world (and the Palestinians in particular) that there can be no right of return for Palestinians into Israel proper.

“The natural and best way is for the ‘national’ character of a state to be ensured by the very fact that it has a particular majority.” And, as if taking its cue from the Zionist leader, that’s just what the Israelis have done.

It’s a Jewish state not just through declarations but through deeds as well. History, tradition, law, symbols, and practice anchor Israel’s Jewish nation-state identity through its ancient biblical connections; centuries of exilotic longing; a Law of Return; a national anthem that puts a return to Jewish Zion upfront; a flag that depicts a Jewish prayer shawl and star of David; a Hebrew language unique to only one nation-state; and, above all, as Jabotinsky had hoped, a population of 8 million, 6 million-plus of whom are Jews. It’s hard to believe that despite the secular character of Israel that aliens arriving in Tel Aviv wouldn’t quickly realize that they had landed in a distinct nation-state run by Jewish Israelis.

And yet a series of laws (most notably the Law of Return and the 1952 Citizenship Law) explicitly favor Israeli Jews. Other administrative rules and regulations give preference to Jewish and Zionist organizations in matters relating to access to land and housing. Then there is systemic, institutional, and societal discrimination that simply does not ensureequal allocation of state budgets and symmetrical benefits to Arab and Jewish communities. The clear absence of a shared public square where Israeli Jews and Arabs can participate equally and take pride in the symbols of the state — national anthem, flag, state holidays — can only reinforce a sense of isolation and separation. That Israeli Arabs may well enjoy more rights than citizens of many Arab countries and would likely not choose to live elsewhere, including in a putative state of Palestine on the West Bank and Gaza, are often arguments used to rationalize their second-class status. But these arguments really don’t work. If you are a real democracy then you make a determined commitment to try to be one, and that means doing everything possible to ensure that all citizens of the stare are treated equally in a de jure and de facto manner too.

1. Either democracy is the enemy in the sense that it is, like communism, and other collective ideologies, a method of propagating fears to suppress individual innovation, self-faith, God, diversity and success out of envy and self-asceticism.

2. Perhaps the issue is gerrymandering or manufacturing of facts, by battling democracy through republican-esque funding and manufacturing consent.

3. Israel never intent on being a democracy and can’t be do to religious and exclusive foundation thus rendering it incompatible with modern institutions and international peace. Apartheid, not democracy.

4. Keep in mind total population of Palestinians in the world outnumbers the total number of Israelis: 11 million Palestinians to approximately 9 million Israelis. (If we want to count Jews then we ought to count Muslims, which would be no comparison). Obviously, the Palestinians are not in Israel and the majority have left Palestine due to the occupation; but this diaspora of refugees would not exist if Israel wasn’t there. Democracy, or apartheid?

“Israel is a relatively young country. If you looked at the United States in 1830, roughly 60 years after independence, you would have found a nation where women couldn’t vote (and many white males, too), blacks were slaves, and native Americans’ lands were seized and tribes forcibly relocated. In a way, Israel’s situation was much closer to America’s in the 1950s, when millions of African-Americans suffered de facto and de jure discrimination. So it’s critically important to give maturing democracies an opportunity to deal with inequalities and discriminatory policies. After all, it took America a full century and half, a civil war, and a bitterly contested civil rights movement to reconcile the promise contained in the Declaration of Independence with the reality that our Constitution validated chattel slavery. And by the looks of Ferguson, Missouri, we still have a ways to go before eliminating the patterns of racial discrimination in our system.”

A historic rug tied to the Armenian genocide will go on display at the White House Visitor Center in November after several failed attempts to display the piece.

The Ghazir rug was created by orphans of the genocide and presented to President Calvin Coolidge in 1925. It will be featured alongside other artifacts in an exhibition highlighting gifts to the United States from groups that have benefited from American humanitarian aid.

“The rug … is a reminder of the close relationship between the people of Armenia and the United States,” National Security Council spokeswoman Bernadette Meehan said in a statement announcing the exhibition.

The tapestry, also called the Armenian Orphan Rug, has been in storage for decades with only limited public appearances. In 2013, the White House blocked a plan to display the rug at the Smithsonian Institution, saying the planned exhibition, which would have featured the release of a book about the piece, was a private event and thus “not viewed as commensurate with the rug’s historical significance.”

Armenian American leaders and several U.S. senators objected to the decision, saying the White House was bowing to political pressure from the Turkish government, which denies a genocide took place.

Historians estimate that 1.2 million Armenians were killed by Ottoman Turks during the political upheaval surrounding World War I. The circumstances of the genocide remain contested by Turkey, which maintains that the Armenians died of disease, starvation and being caught in crossfire. The Ghazir rug was later created by orphans as a goodwill gesture toward the U.S.

Members of the Armenian American community praised the decision to display the rug.

“Turkey doesn’t want people to use the word ‘genocide,’ so the United States doesn’t use the word ‘genocide,’ ” said Aram Hamparian, executive director of the Armenian National Committee of America. “We hope that this is the symbol of the White House finally doing the right thing.”
The delay in exhibiting the rug stemmed from rules governing historic objects rather than political considerations, senior administration officials said.

For elected officials representing Armenian American communities, the decision is a welcome relief after years of negotiation.

“It’s a powerful symbol of American generosity to victims of the Armenian genocide,” Rep. Adam Schiff (D- Burbank) said. “I’m thrilled that it will soon be on display.”

Schiff said he would continue to push for official federal recognition of the genocide, especially in light of the event’s 100th anniversary in April.

For Hamparian, the exhibition will be a success if it represents a change in White House policy.

“The victory will be if this symbolizes progress by this White House to speak the truth about the Armenian genocide,” he said.

Libertarian wave in America. Not sure if it’s a good thing. Label themselves crusaders of genuine freedoms; as does the Republican Party which takes us to war and deprives us of individual rights.

I am all for individual freedom but I don’t know if Libertarians bring anything new – they seem to echo the same message as republicans without having actual plans. All libertarians seem to do is point out the problem. They criticize. They judge. But they have no alternative – no solution – which makes me think their idea of what the problem is might be in fact wrong – which ultimately perpetuates these problems for all americans.

Rand Paul calls for low taxes and less government. He wants involvement in some conflicts abroad but not all. Well, dear Rand Paul, it seems you are part of the wrong political party because we are in involved in every country in the world precisely because of the Bush doctrine of preemption.

I am no fundamentalist by any means because I never want to feel like my beliefs are trampling on the freedom of another. I do respect self-reliance and I do acknowledge that in our world there is potential for certain people or groups to abuse the laws of nature and to use power for the wrong reasons – like starting war, protecting interests, for the sake of vanity, bigotry, greed, etc.

Why do you support the Republican Party? Why are you Islamo-phobes? Why don’t you acknowledge the flaws of anarchical-capitalism as exhibited first hand by close Bush-family ally Saudi Arabia? If you are champions of individual rights why do you discourage social liberty and promote conservative controls of human behavior?

Republicans and Libertarians love portraying Democrats as the anti-christ; as the enemies of individualism simply because they do not advocate it to such an extent that ends up violating the individual rights of others. You see dear friends, there is a huge difference between capitalism and imperialism – the latter being the product of fundamentalist-capitalism, bigotry, and fascism.

There is no perfect system, or ideology. Only God is perfect. The rest is subjective. We must deal with society with this in mind – distinguishing between true individualism and pseudo-individualism. The problem of today’s world is precisely that – the Pseudo.

Everything is business in America – I guess that’s the beauty of it – but as with every business – there are competitors, and I ain’t here tryna’ monopolize but damn do I have an argument that might put yall fundamentalists OUT OF BUSINESS! I mean, wouldn’t you rather be a business man of good conscious that makes money off being honest and ethical than one of lies and facades used to mislead people because you don’t have it in your heart to be humble? HUH SARAH PALIN HUH!?

haha…pardon my professionalism. HEY THIS IS A BLOG OKAY! I was disenfranchised from the official system so I hadda turn to the underworld and this southern colloquial to get by in the business of the land of big business.

I love debating – proving points. I guess that’s not a good thing. I just love the study of social science and debating is just another way of indulging in a good old conversation – you don’t have to be angry, just learn the G code and you will know exactly how to maneuver through. Okay now I’m selling my secrets. Bah, they can’t be learned. You either got it or you don’t. We’re all determined beings bro. Mahara-ji.

I believe the UAE is a grand example of why capitalism needs to slow its role when trying to convince the world it should be ‘unfettered’ – let me rephrase that. I believe blah blah blah is an example of why we need to distinguish between capitalism and pseudo-capitalism.

I decided to reword it once I went through it all one more time before posting it. I love capitalism. Well, I love truth, and I am not going to hold the truth hostage to my stupid opinion – so instead of devoting my energy to touting something that might be wrong, fundamentalistic, or incomplete, I am going to devote my energy to trying to distinguish between what I think is right, and what I think is wrong, and eventually leaving it up to you to decide. I mean, I am definitely putting in my two cents – I am human after all.

Among the pictures in the below link – one especially caught my eye – the caption that is. Caption reads: Tea Party would not be pleased. Why?

89% of Dubai is made of immigrants – yes the west’s favorite scapegoat when venerating the wonders of capitalism. 71% of those immigrants are Asian – probably illegally there – exploited under inhuman work conditions – these guys are slaves people…

You think these immigrants have any human rights guarantees?

You see, I think the problem is that people here in the West like to worship a pseudo-capitalism that – in a more professional, perhaps academic, setting – would likely be labeled anarcho-capitalism, where even the most basic tenets of capitalism and individual rights are ignored for the sake of serving some arbitrary, usually tyrannical, goal, like dominating an entire region on earth in the Middle East. And this pseudo-capitalism is to these anarcho-capitalist libertarians what chairman Mao might have been to the ‘commies’.

Remember folks, God came before capitalism – believe it or not.

But here in the West any criticism of capitalism is immediately assumed to be un-american, communistic, or atheistic – none of which I think is accurate – in fact the only thing un-american is the absence of free thought, discourse and debate on pressing issues such as these – ones that affect Americans and non-Americans alike.

Instead of hurling labels like socialist and islamist around – let’s carefully dissect the accusations so that we may distinguish between true and frue.